Goblin Library - Chapter 4

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Chapter 4

【Cha Im-beom】
Author: Pot Goblin

“Pot Goblin?”
Yu Tae-poong tilted his head in confusion.
“A goblin wrote this book?”
Wondering if goblins even wrote books, I turned the page.

Cha Im-beom, wearing his usual bright expression today, was polishing his firefighter’s uniform.

I read through the text. The protagonist in the book was Cha Im-beom, a firefighter.
The book covered his duties as a firefighter, his personal romantic life, and his relationships with people.
The stories of saving lives and overcoming crises were both entertaining and heartwarming.
It was like watching a protagonist’s story from a disaster film.
I muttered absently.
“This is fun.”
[You’re enjoying it?]
At the question, I nodded slightly.
“Yes, it’s quite enjoyable.”
As I spoke and looked up, I suddenly froze. I thought the Goblin had come to speak with me, but there was no one around.
“Huh? Goblin?”
As I looked around searching for the Goblin, a voice came again.
[I’m not sure which goblin you’re looking for, but I’m Pot Goblin. I’m the one who wrote the story you’re enjoying.]
I startled in surprise. Now that I thought about it, the voice was different from the Goblin I knew. This voice was clearly feminine.
Unable to tell where the voice was coming from, I quickly scanned my surroundings again.
[Ah, there’s no point looking for me. I’m somewhere else, and I’m speaking to you through the book.]
“Through the book?”
[Yes, that’s right. A book can be said to be an extension of the author’s soul. That’s why I’m speaking to you through the book I wrote.]
Confused by the explanation that she was speaking through the book, I looked down at it for a moment.
‘She’s a goblin—what can’t she do?’
Quickly accepting this, I asked.
“But… you’re Pot Goblin?”
[Yes. I was born from a pot. It was a pot used for four generations. The grandmothers of that household took great care of me.]
At the mention of a goblin being born from a pot, I looked at the book with fascination.
“Then if there’s another goblin born from a different pot, what happens?”
[Then that goblin would also be a Pot Goblin.]
“So you have the same name?”
[Goblins don’t mind having the same name. Even though things we call tables all have four legs and a flat surface, their shapes and sizes vary greatly, don’t they? That’s why even if we share names, we can distinguish each other just fine.]
Pot Goblin asked with a smile.
[Ah! But who are you? You seem to be human?]
“I’m Yu Tae-poong. I’ve started working at the library today.”
[I see.]
Though she’d asked, Pot Goblin seemed to lack real interest and simply nodded in acknowledgment.
Normally in such situations, one would ask why a human was working at the Goblin Library.
[So, was my novel entertaining?]
At Pot Goblin’s hopeful words, Tae-poong nodded.
“Yes, I found it very enjoyable.”
[Good, I’m relieved. That’s a work I put quite a lot of effort into. I was worried it might get buried among the writings of other goblins and no one would read it.]
Hearing the delight evident in her voice, Tae-poong asked.
“Do the other goblins write novels as well?”
[Many do. Observing humans is more entertaining than watching dramas or movies.]
“Observing humans?”
Confused about the connection between novels and observing humans, I asked, and Pot Goblin laughed and explained.
[Goblin novels aren’t written from imagination—we write them by observing and studying real humans in the world.]
“Real humans in the world….”
As Tae-poong murmured in confusion, Pot Goblin clarified.
[Cha Im-beom is a real person who actually exists in Mapo-gu, Seoul. We goblins watch real humans like this and write their stories into books.]
Tae-poong pondered her words, and realization suddenly struck him.
“So Cha Im-beom is a real person? Not a fictional character?”
[I told you—we write stories about people who actually exist. So of course he’s real.]
“Then all the books here are…?”
[Not all of them. Sometimes interesting books written by humans end up here too. But most are books we goblins wrote after observing humans and recording their stories. And this Cha Im-beom I’m currently writing about is truly excellent material. He’s a wonderful protagonist.]
Pot Goblin’s tone shifted slightly as she continued speaking with a smile.
[But lately, while writing, there’s one situation that irritates me.]
Hearing the slight annoyance in her voice, Tae-poong asked carefully.
“A situation?”
[Yes. It’s not about anything else… Ah! You saw that part, right? When the fire truck came, how the cars moved left and right to make way.]
“I saw it. That part was wonderful.”
The fire truck needed to reach the scene as quickly as possible, but the road was congested. Then the drivers blocking the way seamlessly merged into adjacent lanes, clearing the path so the fire truck could pass rapidly.
Tae-poong felt both moved and impressed by that moment.
“Ah! So that part actually happened too?”
[Of course. It really happened. The firefighters felt genuinely good and proud about it.]
A smile bloomed on Tae-poong’s face. If he felt proud and pleased just reading about it in a book, the firefighters who actually experienced it must have felt immeasurably better.
[I felt wonderful writing that part too. But the problem is, there are quite a few opposite situations as well.]
“Opposite situations?”
[People who don’t make way and actually block the path instead, or get angry. Ah! And there are also those who rush ahead and take the cleared path for themselves.]
“You mean the path you cleared for the fire truck to pass through first?”
[He’s a truly despicable man.]
“But there’s no such content in the book?”
As Yu Tae-poong flipped through the pages, Pot Goblin sighed.
[Readers don’t like those parts because the pacing feels tedious. Besides, allocating pages to a passing character we’ll never see again is just wasting space. But now I think I need to write that part. So here’s the thing—I’ve come up with some material related to it. Why don’t you brainstorm some ideas too?]
“Ideas? From me?”
[Yes, since you’ve read my book. Tell me what you think would be satisfying in a situation like this.]
Yu Tae-poong, momentarily flustered by the anticipation in Pot Goblin’s voice, spoke up.
“What material did you have in mind?”
[It’s simple. I’d like the car owner who blocked the fire truck’s path to get thoroughly scolded.]
“How so?”
[I don’t know either. As a reader of my 【Cha Im-beom】, think about it yourself. How can we make the car owner regret it most and wish he’d never picked a fight with the fire truck?]
Yu Tae-poong fell silent, gazing down at the book in thought.
‘The car owner who blocked the fire truck… what would make him regret it most…’
Then, a sudden idea flashed through Yu Tae-poong’s mind.
“Well, they say watching a fire across the river is the most entertaining, don’t they?”
[That really is entertaining.]
Pot Goblin laughed and agreed, and Yu Tae-poong continued.
“What if a fire broke out at the house of the person who blocked the road and caused trouble? He wouldn’t even know his own house was on fire—he was blocking the fire truck that came to his own address.”
Pot Goblin didn’t answer immediately. She seemed to be thinking about something.
And then….
Whoooosh!
The pages began turning on their own, flipping loudly and rapidly.
The pages would pause intermittently, then resume turning again.
After the pages turned and stopped about five times, Pot Goblin’s voice rang out.
[Perfect. This story will do nicely.]
Her voice carried the satisfaction of someone who’d settled on a narrative.
Hearing Pot Goblin’s words, Yu Tae-poong suddenly felt uneasy.
“You’ve decided on the story?”
[Yes.]
Yu Tae-poong looked at the book with a worried expression. He’d suggested it, but… a house fire was no trivial matter. Even if it was a terrible person’s house, if it actually happened, it would feel like his fault. His heart felt heavy.
“Are you going to start a fire?”
Pot Goblin laughed at Yu Tae-poong’s question.
[Start a fire myself? Are you asking if the author directly interferes with the human’s life that we observe?]
“Yes.”
[What we want to see is an entertaining story written by observing human lives. But if we directly interfere with that, the story loses its appeal.]
“Then you’re saying you do interfere indirectly?”
[You understand quickly. That’s right. When a story isn’t unfolding the way we like, we create incidents.]
“Incidents?”
[By incidents, I mean small events like that. And we simply watch the protagonist resolve them. Of course, things don’t always flow the way we’d prefer… but doesn’t that have its own kind of charm?]
“But isn’t summoning fire too much of an intervention?”
Pot Goblin laughed at Yu Tae-poong’s concerned words.
[I don’t summon the fire. I simply check where it occurs and create the causality to guide the ill-tempered landlord toward the Fire Department.]
Then Pot Goblin quickly added,
[And thank you for the good material. Keep enjoying my books from now on.]
With those final words, Pot Goblin’s voice fell silent.
Yu Tae-poong glanced around before quietly attempting to return the book to the shelf.
[Huh? Why aren’t you reading more? You haven’t finished it yet.]
At Pot Goblin’s voice returning, Yu Tae-poong hastily pulled the book back and answered.
“I haven’t finished cleaning yet. I’ll read it after I’m done.”
Pot Goblin spoke with a note of regret.
[You should read a book all at once—stopping midway breaks the flow. Ask Bamboo Sword Goblin for a goblin club. How do you expect to clean this vast library every time without one? Ah, never mind. I’ll bring one when I visit our reader in a few days. So clean diligently, my dear reader.]
After leaving that parting remark, Pot Goblin sent no further words.
Realizing the conversation had truly ended, Yu Tae-poong sighed as he tried to return the book to the shelf, then placed it instead on a table in the Reading Room.
‘I can’t even read books easily.’
The Cha Im-beom novel had been entertaining. But knowing that the goblin who wrote it would speak to me upon reading it, I felt a burden settling over every future reading.
Moreover, this wasn’t pure fiction—it was the story of a real person existing in reality.
Goblins observed human lives for entertainment and wrote them into books, but I felt uncomfortable, as though I were stealing glimpses of another’s existence.
If someone were to spy on my own life this way, I would hardly feel pleased either.
Yu Tae-poong gazed at the book on the desk for a moment, then turned his eyes toward the shelves. Surveying the countless shelves and the books nestled within them, I swallowed hard.
‘Every book here is a human story… and all of them about real people who actually exist…’
Lost in thought, Yu Tae-poong soon shook his head. Then I resumed the cleaning I’d been doing.
Cleaning this vast library required diligent movement.

Yu Tae-poong was wiping the shelves with a cloth.
Swish! Swish!
“Still cleaning?”
At the Goblin’s voice, Yu Tae-poong turned his head. The Goblin stood before him, looking exactly as he had when he left this morning.
“The library is so vast that cleaning takes quite a while.”
At Yu Tae-poong’s words, the Goblin ran his hand across the nearest shelf.
Confirming no dust came away, the Goblin turned his head. Spotting the book placed on the Reading Room table, the Goblin spoke.
“Did you read the book?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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